Repercussions
by laras-dice
Summary: Even with the truth, there are always complications. Sequel to "Spark." Dead WIP....there will be no more chapters to this. Sorry!
1. Complications

Title: Repercussions  
Author: Laras_Dice (laras_dice@yahoo.com)  
Rating: PG-13  
Spoilers: None  
Archive: Anywhere, but please let me know  
Summary: Even with the truth, there are always complications. Sequel to "Spark."  
Disclaimer: I own nothing and love Alias. So don't sue me!

AN: Okay, screw it. I'm going totally AU here. Well, not totally. It stayed on-canon until somewhere around The Prophecy. That means no Noah, and Will knows little more than the name "SD-6." This takes place pretty much right where "Spark" left off. If you haven't read "Spark" (http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=644579) this probably won't make a lot of sense. I will not, at least at first, be as quick on updates for this as "Spark." One, I still have a little pesky bit of school left to finish. Two, I have an exploding plot problem currently with another story, and it's taking most of my energy. You have permission to stalk me if I go more than a week between updates. And remember that feedback does wonders for writer's block. ;-)

Chapter 1 - Complications

Eric Weiss was waiting in his office, seated with his feet hiked up on the desk, when Michael Vaughn walked in. Vaughn shut the door behind him, fairly certain that this was going to be a conversation he did not want overheard.

"Only 15 minutes late. Nice work." This with an exaggerated glance at his watch. He looked up and raised his eyebrows. "You left without saying goodbye last night."

It was the truth, and Vaughn had no response other than a glare.

"Seriously. That took all of two days," Weiss said. "That's gonna be bad for the office pool."

What? Shit. "There's a pool?"

The usual glint took over Weiss' eyes. "Just kidding," he said. "But if there was, I totally would have won. Or maybe there is and I just haven't heard about it."

"I find that hard to believe," Vaughn said, taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk. "You know every little scrap of gossip in this place."

"Yeah," Weiss said. "But this one isn't going to be little once it gets out."

"Who says it's going to get out?"

Weiss stared at him. "I hate to break it to you, Vaughn, but if you don't wipe the goofy grin off of your face, people are going to figure it out pretty quick. In case you didn't notice, we work in intelligence."

Vaughn was well aware of the goofy grin. He had been involved in an ongoing battle with it since he had kissed Sydney goodbye that morning. With Weiss' reminder, he forced his face back to serious again.

"So," Weiss said, pausing as the glint in his eyes grew brighter. "Do I get to hear any of the sordid details?"

That earned him another glare from Vaughn. "No."

"Aw, come on," Weiss cajoled him. "You two put on the greatest public display of affection in history in the middle of that bar and you can't tell me anything?"

Had the kiss been that steamy? That part of the night was a blur for Vaughn. "Give me a break," he said. "It wasn't that bad."

"Ohh, hooo, no. I beg to differ with you there, buddy. I thought Will was going to toss his beer. You could literally see him turning green," Weiss said. "You know, he seems like a pretty cool guy, other than the fact that he wants to rip your guts out."

"Yeah," Vaughn said. "We had a little encounter this morning."

"Ouch." Weiss grimaced. "Fistfight, or awkward?"

"Awkward. The whole thing was awkward," Vaughn said. "Even me and Syd. We've known each other so long, but it still feels like things are moving really fast."

"Well, I could be wrong, but I'd think that being former agent and handler puts you in a pretty slim percentile, as relationships go," Weiss said.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door, and a secretary slowly sticking her head inside. "Remember, you've got a meeting in ten minutes."

Weiss nodded, and she closed the door again.

"What meeting?" Vaughn asked.

"Devlin called a nine o'clock to discuss SD-4."

"Oh." It had made him late, but Vaughn was suddenly very glad he'd taken the time to change and shower. "We should probably get moving."

They both stood. "Again, Vaughn, you've gotta lose the goofy grin," Weiss told him.

"Can't this just be an 'I'm happy we took down SD-6' grin?"

"No. That would look like this." Weiss demonstrated. "And you would have been doing it yesterday. That grin, my friend, is the 'I just got laid' grin. Although I'll certainly take it over your usual combination of worrying and moping."

"Shut up," Vaughn snapped, opening the door.

Nonetheless, he found himself closely monitoring his facial expressions as they walked to the conference room. He found this was no longer necessary once they walked in. They were early enough that the room was still empty, save for Devlin and the one man — besides Will Tippin — that Vaughn would have preferred not seeing that morning.

"Good morning," Jack Bristow greeted them.

Vaughn forced himself to keep his voice and heartbeat steady. "Morning." _He can't tell. There's no way he can tell. There's no way he knows you just slept with his daughter._

"Agent Vaughn, can I have a word with you?" _So maybe Jack's psychic. _Jack motioned for him to leave the conference room. _Oh, shit._


	2. A Talk or Two

Title: Repercussions  
Author: Laras_Dice (laras_dice@yahoo.com)  
Rating: PG-13  
Spoilers: None  
Archive: Anywhere, but please let me know  
Summary: Even with the truth, there are always complications. Sequel to "Spark."  
Disclaimer: I own nothing and love Alias. So don't sue me!  
AN: Okay, screw it. I'm going totally AU here. Well, not totally. It stayed on-canon until somewhere around The Prophecy. That means no Noah, and Will knows little more than the name "SD-6." This takes place pretty much right where "Spark" left off. 

Chapter 2 - A Talk or Two

Vaughn followed Jack Bristow to a quiet spot in the hallway outside the conference room, unsure of just how much of his terror Jack was able to read.

"Sydney seemed pretty upset at dinner last night," he said. "I was wondering if you knew why."

This was going to require at least some portion of the truth, Vaughn realized. Just not the part that had ended with them making up and making love.

"She, um, had a lot on her mind," Vaughn said. "Namely Danny." It was not exactly a graceful way to tell it, but he got the point across.

"Oh." Jack needed no other words; the look on his face was more than enough communication for Vaughn. _Hurt my daughter, and I'll kill you_. Will might have wanted to rip his guts out, Vaughn thought, but he had no doubt that Jack could — and would — actually do it.

He tried to be reassuring without going into Weiss' sordid details. "She seemed better last night. This has been a, uh, real emotional week for her."

"Yes." That, apparently, was the end of the conversation, because Jack turned back toward the conference room. Vaughn followed him in.

Weiss waited until no one but Vaughn was looking at him to mouth, "holy shit." Vaughn shook his head and sat down as Devlin asked for everyone's attention.

"I called this meeting to discuss the fallout from SD-4," he said. "But first I'd like to congratulate our new Deputy Director here at the Los Angeles branch, Jack Bristow. Most of you already know him, but let me be the first to say how happy we are to have him a little closer to home."

Jack nodded and gave the room a firm — if slight — smile.

"That said, we received confirmation last night that the raid on SD-4 was as problematic as we had originally suspected," Devlin said. "While all of their central leadership was, in fact, taken into custody, as you all know, SD-4 operated under more of a distributed network than most of the other alliance cells. Roberts?"

Devlin looked to another agent, who stood and began to speak. "At this point, we believe about half of the SD-4 operatives and a good portion of their mid-level leadership are still out there, which is obviously a large enough group to cause concern. We've also got some intelligence that these remnants of SD-4 and the leftovers from the rest of the alliance factions have combined with some freelance groups to create a new organization."

"It just never stops, does it?" complained one agent.

"It's supply and demand," Jack Bristow said. Vaughn wasn't sure if the man actually oozed wisdom, or had just perfected the art of sounding like he did. "The sudden absence of the alliance has created a large void. It's only a matter of time until somebody fills it."

Agent Roberts continued with a critique of the SD-4 raid and a lengthy intelligence update on the whereabouts of members the CIA thought were threats, but Vaughn found it difficult to concentrate. There was one question on his mind — _what about Sydney?_

Thankfully, when Roberts finally called for questions, Weiss got to it first. "What about our doubles and the people we've identified as potential alliance targets?"

"We'll obviously keep a close eye on them," Roberts said. "But we believe this new group is still in the formative process."

Vaughn glanced at Jack, reassured by the look on his face that at least Sydney wasn't going to fall through the cracks. If they had one thing in common, it was that she was the number one priority for both of them.

Devlin closed the meeting after Roberts answered a few more questions. "I think that's all, everyone." Vaughn stood to leave. "Oh, and Agent Vaughn, if you could, please stick around. I need to talk with you."

So far, Vaughn thought, the only redeeming quality of the entire day was the fact that he had started it in the same bed as Sydney Bristow. He waited as the other agents filed out, Weiss flashing him the "oh, shit" look as he left.

Devlin made a nice show of organizing the stack of papers in front of him before he spoke.

"I don't think I really had a chance to thank you for your work on the SD-6 case," Devlin said. "Most of it was outstanding." The part not encased in the "most" was the seven times he'd nearly been suspended, and the two times there had been no nearly.

"Thank you, sir." Vaughn tried not to make his relief too apparent. He knew the next question before Devlin asked.

"I was also wondering if you had a chance to speak to Ms. Bristow regarding our job offer," he said.

Vaughn didn't mention the location of the conversation, or the nudity of the people conversing. "I did, sir," he said. "She's very adamant about not coming back. I know that's a loss for us, but certainly you can understand her position."

Devlin nodded. "Actually, this saves me a lot of grief from my new second-in-command. So maybe it's for the best." He paused, carefully selecting his next words. "Michael, I've known you since you were a kid. And I'm going to be honest with you."

Vaughn unconsciously clenched his fist around the pen in his hand as Devlin continued.

"A lot of people wanted to pull you off of her case three years ago, myself included. Jack convinced us that Sydney was a unique agent, one that required a more...unorthodox handler."

Vaughn barely kept his hand from dropping the pen. Devlin picked up the stack of papers and moved toward the door, but he turned to look at Vaughn before he left.

"You did what you had to do," Devlin said. "And, yes, that should make you free to do whatever you want now. But there are people at the Agency who will be watching you closely now. That is a warning. Take from it what you will."


	3. Uncertainty

Title: Repercussions  
Author: Laras_Dice (laras_dice@yahoo.com)  
Rating: R (mostly suggestive at this point)  
Spoilers: None  
Archive: Anywhere, but please let me know  
Summary: Even with the truth, there are always complications. Sequel to "Spark"

AN: Uh, yeah, this is just a wee bit AU, departed from canon sometime around The Prophecy/Q&A. Will knows little more than the name "SD-6," no Noah. Oh, and everyone that's in it is still freaking ALIVE. Big shout out to everyone at Server 5 :-)

Chapter 3 — Uncertainty

Ridiculous. _That was a good word for it_, Sydney thought. Ridiculous that it was 3:34 p.m. and she was sitting there on the couch, re-reading the same paragraph of a textbook between glances at her very-silent cordless phone. Ridiculous that she was letting doubt curl around her stomach, despite the steadfast foundation of things said the night before.

Quite frankly, she was starting to get pissed. Vaughn had said he would call, but apparently he saw that as a much more open-ended statement than her.

Certainty. That was something to be said of their previous relationship. Scribble something down on a paper bag, pitch it in the trash. The "Joey's Pizza" call always came shortly after that.

She shifted on the couch, searching for a comfortable position. Her body ached from old missions and sex, despite Vaughn's care. A long, hot bath earlier in the day had helped temporarily, but pain was beginning to radiate through her again, including some new aches that made her want to pick up the phone and fling it across the room. She imagined it slamming against the plaster and splintering into little plastic pieces and a tangle of wires; the image was somehow comforting.

She smelled nice, lavender salts in the bath. Thought she looked nice too. The floral sundress had been a discovery during a reorganization of her closet, something on her lengthy list of things to do when spare time managed to find her. It was a little flirty, with spaghetti straps and a flared skirt; no surprise that the tags were still intact, its colors too bright and happy for the last few years of her life. A more exciting option than cotton, dug from the back of her underwear drawer, and a pair of sandals completed things.

Same paragraph, 3:43, and finally a ring. She grabbed the phone and forced herself to hold it for two more before answering. "Hello."

"Hey Syd. It's me." Vaughn. "I'm sorry it took so long to call — we've been pretty busy here."

Yeah, well I've been pretty not busy here. "Is everything okay?"

"Not exactly. Did your father tell you about the...potential complications?"

"Yes." Jack had warned her of the problems with SD-4 during dinner, with a stern reminder that — civilian now or otherwise — she could never really let her guard down.

"We got confirmation. I've been dealing with wild hypotheses and contingency plans all day."

He sounded weary, she thought. "Did you still want to do something later?"

"Actually, I'm kind of beat." There was something strange about his voice. The doubtful part of her wanted to call it reluctance. Suddenly, she felt hollow. Uncomfortable, as if she didn't fit quite right in her aching body. Sydney tried to reassure herself with recent memories, but the doubt lingered.

"Oh," she said, as silence commandeered for a few seconds. "That's okay. I understand if — "

He cut her off. "Sorry, Syd. That's not what I meant," Vaughn said. "I wanted to take you out tonight, do something nice, but I'm just not up for it after today." He paused, and she realized that while she'd had the opportunity to catch up on sleep, he had been juggling work and her — apparently unsuccessfully — for the past few days. "Tell you what," he continued. "Why don't I pick you up, give you the grand tour of my place, and we can watch a movie or something."

The opportunity to see where Vaughn lived — long a curiosity for her, particularly as of late — was enough. "Sure," she said. "It's a...date." Bolder over the phone, and hoping for some reassurance, she added. "Love you."

"Weiss just walked into my office," Vaughn said. "You know— "

"—goodbye, Vaughn," she saved him, laughing as she clicked the off button on the phone.

Advancing paragraphs was suddenly not so hard after that, and she made it through almost 50 pages before Francie walked in the door.

_Time for awkward talk number one._ This one would still go much better than awkward talk number two. She'd avoided both by returning home after Francie and Will had left, but they still pinched at her mind, a foreboding smoke on the horizon.

Francie didn't waste any time, claiming a seat on the couch next to Sydney and dropping her purse and keys on the floor with a thud and jangle.

"Okay," she said, staring at Sydney. "What the hell was that?"

Playing dumb wasn't going to work, but at least it would let her stall. "What was what?"

"_You_. At the bar. Last night. I've never seen you like that. _Ever_."

Sydney couldn't give Francie the history that would fully explain her actions. Instead, she forced the doubts from her mind and spread a smile across her face. "I think you're going to see me like that a lot more."

"That good, huh?" Francie asked.

Sydney nodded, maintaining the smile, but feeling it turn more genuine. It wasn't so much that the sex was good. It was the ancillary things — the look in Vaughn's eyes, the cautious, caring way he'd touched her. This was why she didn't need to feel any doubt, she told herself, recalling specifics of the night that sent heat rushing to her face.

Francie laughed. "Look at you. I'm so happy for you." She paused. "But Will..."

"I know," Sydney said softly. "I don't know what to say to him."

"I don't know if there's anything you can say," Francie told her. "All of this time, he just thought you were waiting for him to make the right move. And then all of a sudden there's Michael, and it's pretty obvious you weren't waiting for Will."

"I should have said something a long time ago." She chastised herself often on this topic, especially now that earlier action would have made things easier on Vaughn. "I could see what was happening, but I always just dodged it."

"Syd, nothing you could have said would have helped," Francie said. "He had to see it. He needed something concrete."

"I keep telling myself that now Will can move on," Sydney said. "But I'm not sure where this leaves our friendship."

Francie reached out and squeezed her arm. "You'll pick it back up, Syd. It may take some time, but you guys have been friends for too long for this to kill it."


End file.
